Fresh Loaf

The first gubernatorial debate of 2010 took place in Athens on Tuesday, but featured only GOP candidates (and not all of them at that — The Ox was a no-show, as he was probably home giving his boys the gun-safety training he’d neglected earlier).

Anyway, the next debate is this coming Monday and all candidates have been invited. It’s the final event capping the Georgia Municipal Association’s annual Mayors’ Day Conference. Why the confab is called Mayor’s Day I can’t understand, because it’s three days long.

The debate itself is also a lengthy affair, running from 1:45-5 p.m. Actually, it’s two full debates — one for Republicans and one for Dems, but both moderated by Matt Towery, the former GOP lawmaker who now runs Insider Advantage.

The GMA has invited 11 candidates in all, and apparently has already nailed down eight confirmations, including Roy Barnes, Carl Camon, DuBose Porter, David Poythress, Nathan Deal, Karen Handel, Ray McBerry and Austin Scott.

Carl who? I wondered that myself. A little research shows that Camon, a Democrat,  was the first black mayor of Ray City, Ga. Does that help?

Oh, the conference is in the Atlanta Hilton downtown, but I don’t know if it’s open to the public. Which makes me wonder if this whole election nonsense couldn’t be simplified by adopting Thunderdome debate rules: Two men enter; one man leaves!

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'Thank you for that question. Yes, I believe Georgia needs jobs and low taxes.'

Nearly all the pachyderms vying for the GOP gubernatorial nomination will lock tusks in a epic battle of wits and platitudes tonight at 7 p.m. on the University of Georgia campus.

From WNEG-TV, the local TV station that’s broadcasting the sold-out event sponsored by the Clarke County Republican Party:

All seven gubernatorial candidates were invited to participate in the Athens debate. Confirmed candidates attending are U.S. Representative Nathan Deal, ex-Secretary of State Karen Handel, [ed. former] president pro tempore of the state Senate Eric Johnson, state representative Austin Scott, state Senator Jeff Chapman, and businessman Ray McBerry. State insurance commissioner and candidate John Oxendine reported that a scheduling conflict will prevent him from participating.

Damn liberal media always finds a way to push out the Ox.

According to the WNEG-TV’s press release, metro Atlantans can watch the debate live on CBS Atlanta and cbsatlanta.com. 640 WGST will also broadcast the battle of the elephants.

(File photo by Joeff Davis)

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Arteries, look out!

Ah, the Wild Hog Supper, the annual barbecue bacchanal that precedes the opening of the General Assembly, last night attracted a sizable percentage of Georgia’s political A-listers — and seemingly every single person planning to run for office across the state.

Sonny was in the hizouse — er, the Georgia Freight Depot, that is — as was Casey and Sen. Johnny Isakson. The Ox was there. So was former Secretary of State Karen Handel, while new SoS Brian Kemp and his peeps were already sporting re-election stickers.

I saw DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis, Fulton County Sheriff Ted Jackson, Cobb Commission Chairman Sam Olens and, of course, a boatload of state lawmakers, including new Speaker David Ralston. Surprisingly, I didn’t see Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin, who, at six-and-a-half feet tall, is a pretty easy guy to spot, even in a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd like last night’s.

At one point, I overheard DeKalb Commissioner Connie Stokes tell someone she was planning to run for Congress again — presumably against Hank Johnson. She’ll need to do a lot better than last time, in 2004, when she came a very distant fourth, with a scant 5 percent of the vote.

As for the food, it was not a night for vegans or the cholesterol-averse. They were serving BBQ soaking in meat juices (aka grease), fried chicken, potato salad and peach cobbler with cream. My favorite, however, was the smell of the whole sides of pork roasting on the grill till they were blackened and crunchy. On several tables were huge mounds of fist-sized, freshly fried pork rinds.

And now, this morning, the Legislature has already opened for business. Let the wild rumpus begin!

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'I look forward to regulating podiatrists and handing out stickers at polling places'

Gov. Sonny Perdue has picked state Rep. Jim Cole, R-Forsyth, to replace Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, the AJC’s James Salzer reports.

Handel announced last week that she’d resign to focus on her gubernatorial campaign.

Via Gold Dome Live:

Republican  Rep. Jim Cole, a three-term lawmaker from Forsyth in Middle Georgia,  has been picked by Gov. Sonny Perdue to be the next Secretary of State. [...]

Cole, 38, will serve out of the final year of Handel’s term. He will also run in 2010 for a full, four-year term.

Cole has been on Perdue’s House team for three years, carrying and pushing the governor’s legislation.

UPDATE: Salzer reports that — sorry, ladies — Cole’s taken. He’s a former businessman who now serves as the assistant athletic director at Mercer University.

(Courtesy House Communications)

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'On the one hand, I could stay in office and regulate cosmetologists and chiropractors…'

After three years on the job, Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel says she’ll resign to focus her energy on her 2010 gubernatorial bid.

From the AJC:

“The people of Georgia need to know I am all in for the governor’s race,” Handel said. “This decision allows me to focus 100 percent on becoming the Republican nominee and winning in November.”

Handel said she  is resigning to steer clear of any potential accusations that she is using her office to benefit her campaign. The Secretary of State’s office oversees election and voting issues.

By stepping down, Handel also gains an edge when it comes to raising funds. Georgia law prohibits state lawmakers and elected officials from groveling for campaign cash while the General Assembly is in session. Earlier this year, Eric Johnson resigned his state Senate seat to focus on his gubernatorial campaign.

The AJC says Gov. Sonny Perdue will name Handel’s replacement. In the meantime, the “The Georgia State Board of Hearing Aid Dealers and Dispensers,” which the secretary of state oversees, will run wild and inflict great damage upon Georgia.

UPDATE, 3:30 p.m.: After the jump, some “kind” words from GOP gubernatorial hopeful John Oxendine’s campaign and Gary Horlacher, the Democratic candidate for secretary of state.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

(more…)

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Bring it

In 2006, Georgia Secretary of State Democratic candidate Angela Moore changed the political landscape — dare we say THE WORLD? — with a campaign song so simple, yet so powerful, that it was sung by men, women and children far and wide.

“Vote for Miss Angela,” we were told. “Vote or die,” the song warned.

Most people, however, did not vote for Miss Angela. The businesswoman and community activist placed third in the Democratic primary.

Well, Moore’s decided to join some other donkeys and try to become the Democratic nominee for the secretary of state seat in 2010. (Incumbent Karen Handel is aiming for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.) It’s time, once again, to decide whether we will vote… or die.

(more…)

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Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel’s office says it’s done some preliminary digging and discovered that allegations of questionable voting in the Atlanta mayor’s race appear to be — wait for it — unfounded.

So sayeth the Secretary of State’s Office of Inspector General, via cyborg messenger pigeon:

“Based on preliminary findings, we believe that the original list provided by Citizens for Fair Atlanta Elections is not a list of voters who actually cast a ballot in the Atlanta mayoral election. Rather, it appears to have been created or pooled from a larger list of registered voters. From this list, approximately 40 voters do not appear to have valid residence addresses. The Inspector General’s Office will continue its investigation to determine the eligibility status of these voters. We are forwarding these preliminary investigative findings to the Fulton County Board of Elections and Registration as it conducts its own investigation into this matter.”

Mayor-elect Kasim Reed, who narrowly defeated Mary Norwood by 715 votes in the Dec. 1 runoff, has rejected the allegations. The recount was scheduled to begin about six minutes ago, so we’ll have more to report throughout the day.

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State politicos calling for House Speaker Glenn Richardson to resign are growing in numbers in the wake of his ex-wife’s jaw-dropping interview.

Via Jim Galloway, we learn the list of dignitaries includes:

• State Rep. Judy Manning. The Marietta Republican is part of Richardson’s formal leadership team and a member of the Cobb County delegation, which includes House Rules Chairman Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, a Richardson chum.

• State Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton. The 2010 GOP gubernatorial candidate says new leadership is on the way, the AJC’s Aaron Gould Sheinin reports.

• Secretary of State Karen Handel, also a 2010 GOP gubernatorial hopeful. “It is clear that the Speaker should resign immediately for the good of our state and our citizens,” she says.

Galloway reports that Gov. Sonny Perdue last night invited Richardson, House Majority Leader Jerry Keen of St. Simons, and House Speaker pro tem Mark Burkhalter of Johns Creek to the old West Paces Ferry bungalow to discuss the lower chamber’s next move. Keen and Burkhalter are both candidates who’d likely fill Richardson’s shoes, so the affair must’ve been awkward as hell.

They also discussed, Galloway was told, whether Richardson, who as of right now relies on the $99,000 annual Speaker salary as his only source of income, deserves a golden parachute. Must be nice.

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Rasmussen reports that John Oxendine still leads candidates battling to become the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee. According a telephone survey conducted by the pollster, 27 percent of likely Republican primary voters favor the state insurance commissioner.

The Ox’s© lead, however, has shrunk by four points — and the number of undecided voters has grown. Rasmussen says many likely voters still haven’t formed an opinion about the candidates — which isn’t surprising for a contest that’s still 10 months away.

Here’s how the other pachyderms stack up:

Twelve percent (12%) prefer Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, while nine percent (9%) like Congressman Nathan Deal. Handel and Deal were tied at 13% each in the previous survey.

Rounding out the list is State Senator Eric Johnson, State Representative Austin Scott and conservative businessman Ray McBerry, each with three percent (3%) support among primary voters.

Seven percent (7%) favor some other candidate, and 35% are not sure. The number of undecided voters climbed four points from two months ago, suggesting that the race is far from decided.

That “other candidate” favored by seven percent of poll respondents could easily be a Libertarian. Pray to God it’s not this guy. Rasmussen will release details on the Democratic gubernatorial candidates tomorrow.

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Yay! The new issue of The Beacon, the North Fulton weekly newspaper that made headlines for its Obama-in-the-crosshairs cover, has been delivered to my computer screen!

What’s this? A profile of Georgia Secretary of State and 2010 GOP gubernatorial candidate Karen “Bring It On” Handel? I wonder how it’ll start.

“I’ve had to fight for everything my whole life,” says Georgia Secretary of State and GOP gubernatorial candidate Karen Handel. “So this is no different.”

And so begins perhaps the most glowing profile you will ever read about Karen Handel, from now until the day you die.

(more…)

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Good morning, John Oxendine, Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate. What bad ideas do you have for us this morning? Oh, you think we should talk about building a “parallel downtown connector” that could plow through most of East Atlanta! OK. Lemme just first clean up all this coffee I spit all over my desk.

Oxendine pitches the idea — along with a Western Bypass, a new Northern Arc, and a couple of other projects that will most likely never get built — in this campaign video.

Building a massive asphalt artery through some of the city’s most vibrant neighborhoods isn’t going to win Oxendine any support inside the perimeter.

But this pie-in-the-sky idea, which will most likely never happen, could win the gubernatorial hopeful points with the North Fulton crowd, a tried and true Republican enclave that’s thought to most likely favor Karen Handel. The Ox says that people who live in the Ga. 400 and I-85 corridors — unlike potential voters in Cobb County — don’t have the luxury of bypassing the city.

But anything to get Georgia out of gridlock, right?

(H/T to Jim Galloway)

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Laura Douglas-Brown of the Southern Voice points our attention to Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel’s rather blunt stance on gay marriage, expressed several months ago in her “bring it on” campaign video.

Surprise! The GOP gubernatorial candidate opposes the idea and will fight efforts to show respect to gay men and women who’d like to enjoy the same legal rights as straight people! Including divorce!

(more…)

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On Monday, the Georgia Supreme Court will hear oral arguments over whether touch-screen voting — those controversial courtesy of Diebold that were ushered in after the 2000 presidential election clusterfuck — should be used in the state.

Early voting in downtown Atlanta, October, 2008,

The case stems from a 2006 challenge brought by Garland Favorito, who says the machines don’t produce a recorded ballot — you know, with results — and are open to tampering. (You can read about the plaintiffs’ concerns at Voter GA.)

After the jump, the case summary from the state Supreme Court communications office:

(more…)

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Erick Erickson, editor of Peach Pundit and RedState, has gotten all Lawnmower Man up in this and rappelled into the darkest depths of the Internet to do some good-ole fashioned sleuthing.

Erick Erickson

For several days, Erickson’s had a sneaking suspicion that someone close to state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has been vandalizing Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel’s Wikipedia entry. Handel and Oxendine are considered front runners in the race that’s still more than a year away.

A few readers — some of whom it’s safe to assume are supporters of Das Ox — questioned Erickson’s motives. (It’s worth noting that he’s a fan of Handel.) But now he’s uncovered some more evidence.

So while I realize the Oxendine supporters will use this as a forum to go after me again for daring to speculate based on the circumstantial evidence at the time, as the Oxendine campaign seems intent on doing, the Oxendine campaign is not out of the woods by a long shot.

I now have the IP address from which RomneyGingrich12 made the changes to Karen Handel’s biography.

That IP address is a State of Georgia IP address that, I understand, connects from the Sloppy Floyd building. Unfortunately, it is also my understanding that it is pretty difficult to tell from there which computer, in fact, uses that particular IP address or it may rotate.

Read a list of more clues over at Peach Pundit.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Christopher Barber, who wants ballot access eased, said we could use this awesome photo of him and one of God's most poetic creatures

For decades, most third-party candidates in Georgia who wanted to gain ballot access have had to circulate petitions and gather signatures. The process has been derided as unfair, unnecessary and an obstacle to public service.

And now, a Libertarian Party of Georgia member has asked Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel — who’s also a gubernatorial candidate — to ease third-party ballot access in the Peach State.

In a letter sent last Friday to the Secretary of State’s office, DeKalb County resident Christopher Barber — who’s allowed me to reveal his identity as the mysterious “man in the Hawaiian shirt” from previous posts — asks Handel to embrace the Internet and TEAR DOWN THIS WALL.

Barber says allowing potential candidates to petition via e-mail for ballot access would save her department — and in turn, Georgia taxpayers — money.

Judging that Handel has been gung-ho on cutting her department’s waste and keeping elections fair — and considering the allure of winning the kind graces of the burgeoning number of residents who identify with the Libertarian platform — this should make for some interesting theater.

More from the letter — and a copy of the letter itself — after the jump.

(more…)

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Forgive the Yogi Berra-ness of the following statement, but Libertarian Jason Pye is the person I disagree with most often with whom I agree most often.

Ex. Last night, Pye asked his readers to stop judging Republican Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate Karen Handel through our usual “elephant vs. donkey” filter. Instead, he wants us to consider Georgia’s restrictive ballot rules; rules that protect the duopoly of Democrats and Republicans against challengers. He’s got a great point.

Pye:

You cannot truly have a fair and open election process until all parties are given the same access to the ballot that Democrats and Republicans enjoy. For those of you who don’t know, Georgia has some of the most restrictive ballot access laws in the United States, behind Oklahoma and West Virginia, with the latter taking steps to improve ballot access this year [. . .] a relaxation of ballot access laws must be passed by the legislature, an endorsement of the idea from the supervisor of elections in the State of Georgia could go a long way and possibly could even open up some dialogue with legislative leaders.

If ballot access and election verification are subjects you find interesting, I recommend you journey into the Pye-hole for a couple minutes.

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Erick Erickson at Peach Pundit (who, on Friday, celebrates his fifth consecutive week of not calling anyone a goat-fucking child molester) has called-out Rep. John Lewis for a bizarre quotation appearing in an AJC story about the U.S. Department of Justice’s rejection of a Georgia voter law.

Lewis describes the rejected election law as:

“an attempt to take us back to another dark period in our history when people were denied access to the ballot box simply because of their race or nationality.”

A slight problem, Rep. Lewis.

We’re supposed to discriminate by nationality at the ballot box.

We don’t vote in foreign elections and foreigners don’t vote in ours. The problem with the state law isn’t that Lithuanians should be allowed to vote in Georgia. The problem, according to the DOJ, is that Georgia’s citizenship filter is inaccurate and unreliable.

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Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has announced he will drop out of the 2010 governor’s race for health reasons.

“Often times we’re dealt certain cards we have to face,” Cagle told reporters today at a press conference at the Capitol before choking up and leaving the rotunda.

“It is a degenerative spinal condition and treatment will entail significant recovery,” spokesperson Jaillene Hunter later told reporters. She did not elaborate on the name of the condition or the course of its treatment.

In other words, the treatment — which involves surgery — would likely require Cagle to stay off the campaign trail.

Dick Pettys reports Cagle told members of the Senate Republican Caucus that he would run for another term as lieutenant governor in 2010. If so, he’ll face Sen. David Shafer, R-Duluth, and Sen. Eric Johnson, R-Savannah — assuming they remain in the race following this news.

Cagle, a Gainesville Republican, was considered the front-runner to become the GOP nominee for governor. Remaining Republican candidates now include Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, state Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, and Ray McBerry. Possible candidates include Cobb County Chairman Sam Olens, whom Jim Galloway reports is expected to make an announcement on Friday.

(File photo by Joeff Davis)

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Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel makes it official:

Handel announced she’d filed the paperwork to begin raising money for the race. Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, two other Republicans, started raising money for the 2010 governor?s race last year.

“Our next governor will face many difficult challenges,” Handel said. “I look forward to meeting those challenges with exciting new ideas and a vision that will put us on the path to growth and prosperity.”

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Did I mention that already? In Decatur, where I voted an hour ago, there were no lines; poll workers said people had been filing in all morning long.

The obvious big contests are Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat, Georgia Public Service Commission District 4 and the state Court of Appeals. There are several county elections still undecided, as well.

To find out where you need to go to vote, visit Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel’s poll locator. Don’t forget to bring photo ID. If you have any questions, contact your county’s election office. Polls close at 7 p.m.

After today — unless we have a recount — all this will be over. We’ll come out holding hands and happy.

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This has been a grueling election cycle. Not only have we been burdened with the impossible task of writing about abstract things like “hope,” “change” and “drilling for oil,” we’ve had to slog through an extra four weeks of attack ads and endorsements long after the rest of the country (except for Minnesota!) had declared their winners.

But the candidates ask you to please — please — return to the polls tomorrow, Dec. 2.

If you didn’t vote on Nov. 4 — or during early voting — you can still vote in the runoff. To find out where to cast your ballot, visit the Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel’s poll locator. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close to 7 p.m. And be sure to bring one of the six following forms of identification:

• Any valid state or federal government issued photo ID, including a FREE Voter ID Card issued by your county registrar’s office or the Georgia Department of Driver Services (DDS)

• A Georgia Driver’s License, even if expired

• Valid employee photo ID from any branch, department, agency, or entity of the U.S. Government, Georgia, or any county, municipality, board, authority or other entity of this state

• Valid U.S. passport ID

• Valid U.S. military photo ID

• Valid tribal photo ID

Enjoy! Let us know if there are any shenanigans.

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Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel’s website shows more recent results.

as of 11/19/08

Number of ballots cast :33,555

Number of ballots voted in person: 33,523
Number of mail-in ballots returned: 32

Turn out Demographics:
Black Female 4,548
Black Male 3,565
White Female 11,343
White Male 13,093
Asia-PI Female 69
Asia-PI Male 51
Hisp-Lt Female 59
Hisp-Lt Male 57
Native AM Female 1
Native AM Male 1
Other 768
Total 33,555

Fulton County’s now fourth in turnout. Forsyth is off the list.

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Usually the Libertarians end up siding with Republicans. Not so in the Public Service Commission Dec. 2 runoff between Republican Lauren “Bubba” McDonald and Democratic nominee Jim Powell.

Brandon Givens, the Libertarian challenger for the seat who received the strongest showing by a third-party candidate in the Nov. 4 General Election, has announced his endorsement for Powell in the Dec. 2 runoff.

From the Powell campaign:

“After speaking with Mr. Jim Powell I’ve discovered that he too has the vision for a new system that would allow for both a free market in energy and a growth in green technology,” Givens said in a news release. “Mr. Powell also shares my strong opposition to ex parte communications, the behind-closed-doors dealings between PSC members and the industries they are charged with regulating. He will stand up for transparency in government. I strongly encourage all voters, Libertarian and fiscally conservative to vote for Jim Powell.”

…

“I congratulate Brandon Givens on the strong race that he ran and bringing attention to many of the important issues in this campaign,” Powell said. “I am honored to have his support in the runoff election.”

Powell has also been endorsed by incumbent Public Service Commissioner Angela Speir, former Republican candidate Pam Davidson, and four of the state’s major daily newspapers: the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Savannah Morning News. the Rome News-Tribune and the Waycross Journal-Herald.

Powell won the popular vote in both the Democratic primary and the Nov. 4 General Election. He also fought a long and tiresome battle with Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel over his residency. Just one week before the General Election, the state Supreme Court  ruled he was eligible to run.

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UPDATE: Bah, semantics! Received word that I garbled some of the terminology on the post. It’s been corrected.

Were you one of the 2 million Georgians who enjoyed his or her early voting experience? The long lines, the new friends, the chance you may have ended up as a “missed connection” on Craigs List?

Good news! Absentee and early voting will be available for the Dec. 2 runoff.

After Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel certifies election results next week, state election maestros and county election officials will start coordinating the runoff.

Matt Carrothers, Handel’s spokesman, told me these details over the phone a few minutes ago:

Early voting is anticipated to begin Nov. 17. According to Handel’s office:

Counties can begin early voting. While it is a county-by-county decision, there should be consistency state-wide.

Advance voting will be held Monday through Wednesday (Nov. 24-26) during the week of Thanksgiving. County election offices are closed Thursday and Friday because of the holiday.

If you voted by mail-in or absentee ballot in the General Election, you’ll have to re-request a ballot. You can download an application at the Secretary of State’s website or pick one up at your county election office. (Or just click here.) To find your county election office, click here. Applications can either be dropped off, mailed, or faxed as well.

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Georgia Democrats are calling for Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel to extend advanced voting on Saturday and Sunday after computer glitches caused a reported 500 people to wait two hours in line at a Fulton County polling place.

State Rep.-elect Rashad Taylor, D-Atlanta, says poll workers at the Adamsville Recreation Center in Southwest Atlanta told him voter check-in machines couldn’t access the Secretary of State’s system shortly after 7 p.m. on Thursday night. When he arrived at the rec center to assist poll workers, Taylor — who was joined by Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders, Councilmember C.T. Martin and City Council Clerk Rhonda Johnson — says he saw an estimated 500 people still waiting to cast ballots.

“A few days ago, there was a problem connecting to the system,” the representative-elect says. “This time, there was a problem with the system.”

(more…)

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